"Then, as he rode along, he composed a sonnet, fitting to his case, the strength and rhythm of which seemed to him, as he sat on his horseback, to be almost perfect. Unfortunately, when he was back at Clavering, and sat in his room with the pen in his hand, the turn of the words escaped him."
Trollope's words would just as well describe what happens to me after I have had an idea in a setting where there is no pen handy.
I bought a mp3/dictaphone (and wrote a script to help archive its content and process it), and it solved this problem for me, along with all the things I remember I should do while jogging or going to school, freeing my mind for other things than trying to remembering it till I get to a notepad.
ReplyDeleteFor precisely this reason (losing proof ideas), I always keep a pen and a single piece of notepaper handy. It's saved me more than once.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, sometimes I forget to transcribe the idea when I'm back at work, and lose the piece of paper. :)